GE Interlogix acquires MAS

June 19, 2003 IRVINE, Calif. - GE Interlogix announced this week that it has completed the acquisition of well-known Monitoring Automation Systems, known to many simply as MAS, in a deal that’s being called a surprise by some. "It’s absolutely raising eyebrows," said John Mack, president of USBX Advisory Services, a consulting firm. Up until now, GE’s acquisitions in the security market have focused on the hardware side. This deal, said Mack, marks its first software company purchase, not to mention an alarm monitoring software company. "I don’t think people are used to seeing one of the big manufacturers buy players in the software side," said Mack. MAS, which has been in the market for more than 20 years and serves some of the biggest players such as ADT Security, Protection One and Brink’s Home Security, is not expected to change under GE Interlogix. Steven Keefer, the former majority shareholder of MAS, its founder and now its president, said the company will continue to conduct business as it has in the past. "We serve our customer with every product that they use. I don’t see that changing," said Keefer. "If our customer uses a GE product, that’s fine. If a customer uses a non-GE product, we’ll support that, as well." Like many of the other GE Interlogix acquisitions before it, MAS expects to benefit from GE Interlogix’s research and development and technology. Along with Keefer, plans call for MAS’ 80 employees to remain onboard. For more of this story, see the July 2003 issue of Security Systems News.